Darmanin settles Old Firm clash

Sliema Wanderers 0
Floriana 3

Floriana took another giant step towards securing Championship Pool football when yesterday they stunned Old Firm rivals Sliema Wanderers with striker Ryan Darmanin scoring a hat-trick.

It was a fitting farewell for coach Zoran Popovic and fellow Serbian goalkeeper Dejan Maksic. Both made their last appearance for Floriana yesterday after deciding to seek pastures new away from Maltese football.

Popovic, who took over the reins of the Greens club at the start of the season, stepped down from his post for personal reasons and will return to Belgrade today. Maksic will pursue his career with a Greek club next month.

Sliema paraded former Floriana no.1 Simon Agius in goal and the Blues netminder had a torrid time against his previous employers as Darmanin had a field day and was a constant thorn in the Wanderers defence.

Stephen Azzopardi, the Sliema coach, will be pondering how to lift his side's spirits after two defeats in which the Wanderers failed to score and conceded a staggering six goals. Last week they lost to Hamrun Spartans 3-0.

Yesterday, the Blues may have been without Kosta Bjedov and Roderick Briffa but these two notable absentees were still not a good enough reason for the side's lack of flair.

With a solid defence and a dynamic midfield including the sterling contribution by Marlon Briffa, Floriana were always a step ahead of their opponents as they made the best out of the chances which came their way.

On 13 minutes, Floriana took the lead. Darmanin scored a gem of a goal after controlling the ball's flight and unleashing a low shot from outside the area that gave Agius no chance.

The Blues could have drawn level three minutes later as referee Marco Borg sanctioned goalkeeper Dejan Maksic for holding the ball in his hands for more than the stipulated six seconds.

With a crowded penalty area, the best that Sliema could do was to have Daniel Severino sliding a quick pass towards Roderick Bajada who shot at goal but his effort was blocked by a wave of Floriana players.

Midway through the first half, Matthew Bartolo tried to power his way inside the area and came tumbling down only for the referee to brandish the yellow card to the Sliema player for simulation.

On 33 minutes, Briffa won a free-kick some 25 metres out and Pablo Doffo's curling shot finished just over as the Greens came close to doubling their lead.

Six minutes into the second half, Floriana made it 2-0. Luke Agius delivered a low cross from the right byline and the alert Darmanin was at hand to strike gold with a simple tap-in that had the better of Simon Agius for the second time during the match.

Floriana suffered a setback early in the second half as skipper Mauro Brincat sustained an injury and had to be replaced by Dylan Zarb on 56 minutes. Julian Briffa was handed the captain's armband.

A quick one-two between Ciantar and Bartolo released the latter who stormed into the area only for the towering Maksic to dart out of his goal to block the effort.

Seconds later, Bajada was the next player to make it into the referee's book for simulation as the list of cautioned players rose to five before the 70th minute.

Darmanin completed his hat-trick on 75 minutes when he received a good ball from Zarb and lobbed the ball over the onrushing Simon Agius to cap a memorable afternoon.

Sliema tried to pull a goal back late on and Bajada found Alex Muscat who beat the offside trap but his shot lacked power to trouble Maksic.

Minutes later, the upright denied Muscat when he unleashed a powerful shot that came off the post.

Sliema Wanderers: S. Agius-5.5, A. Muscat-6, I. Azzopardi-6, B. Nisevic-5.5, M. Scerri-5.5 ('46 N. Turner-5.5), M. Bartolo-6.5, J. Chetcuti-6, I. Woods-5.5, D. Severino-5.5 ('75 I. Ciantar-5), J. Vella-5.5 ('46 M. Ciantar-6), R. Bajada-6.5.

Floriana: D. Maksic-6.5, C. Camoin-6.5, O. Bugeja-6.5, J. Briffa-6.5, S. Eboh-6.5, M. Brincat-6.5 ('56 D. Zarb-6.5), P. Doffo-7, L. Agius-7, M. Briffa-7.5, C. Caruana-7 ('75 A. Madzar-6), R. Darmanin-8.5 ('85 R. Brincat).

Scorers: Darmanin 13, 51, 75

Referee Marco Borg.

Yellow cards Briffa, Bartolo, Darmanin, Zarb, Bajada, Nisevic.

BoV player of the match Ryan Darmanin (Floriana).